Vintage Volume Two

by Suzanne, Lisa

  One was their need to protect me.

  My dad held a tumbler of whiskey—neat—while I held a glass of white wine. I wanted red, but it seemed inadvisable in a white dress.

  “I need to apologize to you one last time, CC,” my dad started.

  I glanced up at him in confusion.

  What could he possibly have to apologize for?

  I was trying to think of some proper way to express my gratitude to the man who’d done so much for me, not just to make this day possible, but for everything he’d done for me my entire life. It was true that he’d been in and out for much of my childhood, that I’d been stuck with my mother or some hired nanny, but he was always there when I needed him. Always.

  And I knew that wouldn’t change just because I was getting married. I knew my dad would be there for me any time I needed him for the rest of my life. It was just who he was. Most people didn’t see him as a family man, but I saw him as Dad.

  He had always done whatever he could to ensure that I was happy, but more than that, he did everything he could to ensure I was safe. As I thought about that, I realized how much he’d done for my mental stability. Even though I’d felt someone watching me for the better part of the past year, my dad had done everything he could to keep me out of harm’s way without interrupting my daily existence.

  Randy had been after me, after the item he knew was somewhere in my possession, but my dad made sure that his threats were hidden from me to protect my state of mind. I hated being left in the dark, but ignorance truly had been bliss. Now that I was privy to the secrets, I sort of wished I hadn’t known in the first place.

  Life seemed so much easier back then.

  Every decision he’d made had been in my best interest. My dad was truly my hero, and most importantly, he’d brought Parker into my life.

  He was the reason I was sitting on his office couch in a white dress, just minutes away from walking down the aisle toward the man I loved with my entire heart.

  I felt safe with the security around us. A police officer was stationed right outside the office door, allowing my dad and me our privacy. My dad had a camera system in the hallways of the house, and a security team was watching screens to check for any possible breaches. Police milled the area and the driveway. No one got in or out without credentials.

  I still wished my dad had done something with Damien’s DVD before the wedding, though. He had his reasons, and maybe he had done something and just hadn’t told me. I’d been pretty busy over the past couple of days, and it had been less than forty-eight hours since we’d seen the last words Damien had ever spoken to me.

  I pushed those thoughts out of my mind and focused on my dad. He’d told me he owed me an apology, and I hadn’t responded.

  “For what?” I finally asked.

  “For not telling you everything sooner. For the fake engagement. For keeping the truth about who Parker was from you for so long.”

  Remorse lined his handsome face.

  I stood from my perch on the couch and set my wineglass on the end table.

  He’d already apologized, but he didn’t owe me an apology. Not then, and not now.

  It hadn’t been the easiest road. It certainly hadn’t been the straightest road. My short history with Parker had been filled with twists and turns, detours and road blocks, but if I changed a single moment, we would be in a different place. We wouldn’t be moments away from marriage.

  And I wouldn’t want to change that for anything in the world.

  My dad wasn’t the type to offer an apology easily. He didn’t become as successful as he was by apologizing his way to the top. He was a gentleman, but he was shrewd and ruthless when he needed to be. He was stubborn, and most of all, he was always right.

  So even though I felt he didn’t need to apologize, I accepted it anyway. I hugged him and kissed his cheek. “Thanks, Dad. And I haven’t thanked you for everything you’ve done to protect me.” I voiced the realization I’d come to only seconds before. “Thank you for keeping me in the dark, because not knowing helped me maintain my sanity. Thank you for making sure that I was always protected. And thank you for this wedding.”

  He smiled at me as I broke our hug and went to get my wineglass to toast my dad.

  Despite my complaints that I hadn’t asked for this life, that I hadn’t asked to be thrust into the spotlight just because I was the daughter of Gideon Price, I was pretty damn lucky.

  And for once, I wasn’t going to take those blessings for granted. I raised my wineglass in the air, and my dad raised his nearly empty tumbler of whiskey toward me.

  “Thank you for being the best dad that a girl could ask for.”

  Our glasses were centimeters from contact in a touching moment between father and daughter when the corner of my eye caught a movement.

  I turned my attention to the shadow. A figure stepped out from behind a thick curtain.

  The wineglass fell out of my hand, shattering to the floor and splashing pale yellow liquid on the bottom my dress.

  A gasp fell from my lips as time slowed down. My entire day had been on speed mode until the moment my eyes met his.

  After that, everything happened in slow motion.

  My dress was ruined.

  My shoes were ruined.

  My wedding was ruined.

  And it was about to get a whole hell of a lot worse.

  Because the man standing in the office with us held a gun in his hands.

  I was gun stupid. I hadn’t grown up around them. I didn’t really know anything about them—the type, the speed, the weight, the bullets.

  All I knew was that the man in the room with us wasn’t just holding a gun.

  He was aiming it at me.

  “How the fuck did you get in here?”

  My dad’s voice sounded loud in our quiet space. But it was more than loud.

  It was scared.

  I could sense the fear in my dad’s voice, and that alone triggered my terror over anything else.

  My dad was my rock. I’d never seen him scared about anything. Ever.

  He was steady.

  He was strong.

  He was my hero.

  And together we were facing a man with a gun and a grudge.

  twenty-nine

  Certain moments in life define us. They define who we are, what we stand for, and what matters most.

  Some are moments we never want to forget. Others are moments we wish we didn’t remember.

  My wedding day was supposed to be the former—a day I never wanted to forget.

  Instead, it became a moment I wished I could erase from my memory. Instead of the romantic delights that create the fantasy of a perfect wedding day, it became the living nightmare that would haunt my dreams.

  It was a moment in time where I panicked, where I froze, and where I couldn’t react because I was too frightened.

  Katie and Damien were in the room with me, ready to take me with them.

  Parker’s face ran through my mind.

  How would he react? Would he move on? Would he be okay?

  What about my dad? He’d never get over losing his CC. He’d only have Jadyn to take care of him.

  And what about my mother? Would she even miss me? It was a horrible thought to have, but I didn’t know the answer. And maybe I never would.

  But Parker. He didn’t deserve to lose what he’d just found in me. I didn’t want to die. Even through the indifference I’d latched onto when Damien had left me, death was never one of my options. I had trudged through life, careless and ambitionless. And now I had cares. I had ambitions.

  But more than that, I had love.

  These were the thoughts that ran through my mind as I stared down the barrel of the gun pointed at me.

  Time was momentarily suspended as a quiet moment hung between the three of us.

  Where the quiet moment had meant peaceful serenity only seconds before, this new quiet moment turned into a cacophonous discord of loud silence. />
  And the loud silence was shattered when Randy flicked the safety on the gun in his hand.

  thirty

  “You think I don’t know how to pay off the right people? Besides, how many times have we hidden shit from the cops here? You think I don’t know my way around?”

  My eyes moved from the gun to his face.

  The memories of Randy from my childhood didn’t match the train wreck in front of me.

  He’d always been heavy-set, but he’d managed a charm that made him somewhat less repulsive—at least up until the night he’d hit on me.

  The man standing in front of me looked thinner than I’d ever seen him, but instead of it looking good on him, he looked greasy. He looked as if he hadn’t showered in a few days. Deep shadows circled his eyes. His hair was too long and hung in stringy cords around his face.

  It hit me that it was because he’d been running. He had to have been. He’d killed a man. Even if he hadn’t done it himself, he’d paid someone to do it.

  He was responsible for it.

  And he was going to pay.

  Or maybe he wasn’t.

  Some people just got away with the things they did. Some people worked hard for success, while others pushed their way to the top and stepped on everyone who helped them get there.

  Randy made a lot of money because of my dad and his connections, but none of that mattered.

  The second Damien had threatened him, Randy became a different man.

  He didn’t care who he had to run over to protect himself, and in doing that, he’d caused a lot of turmoil…specifically in my family.

  And now he was pointing a gun at me.

  My eyes met his for just a second. I saw everything I needed to there.

  He would pull that trigger in a heartbeat. There was no remorse behind his dead eyes. No sympathy or love or friendship despite the fact that Randy had known my dad since before I was born.

  No honesty.

  No empathy for the girl he’d watched grow from a newborn into a toddler, a toddler into an adolescent, an adolescent into an adult.

  His eyes were full of hatred, vengeance, and confidence.

  And it was the confidence that scared me the most.

  You could talk a person out of hatred if you knew the right thing to say. You could even battle vengeance for the right price.

  But confidence was unshakable.

  He’d come to do a job, and he wouldn’t leave until it was done.

  My eyes moved back to the gun in his hand.

  My dad and I both remained completely still, both of us frozen in fear.

  I noticed absently that my dad’s tumbler was still raised in the air.

  I wasn’t sure what could be done to stop Randy from shooting that gun.

  “Randy, let’s just talk about this,” my dad said, reason hiding the fear. He was used to his onstage persona, and I could tell he’d slipped his mask on. He was acting.

  Unfortunately, Randy could also tell. He knew my dad better than most.

  My dad didn’t move, but something in the room changed ever so slightly. He had a plan, but he couldn’t inform me. He always came through, and I knew he would now, too.

  Randy’s eyes focused in on me.

  “Nothing to talk about. You know what I want, but you’re too goddamn stupid to give it to me. First you stole Jadyn from me, and then you got your hands on that DVD. You made a copy, hid them all over town, wherever the fuck. So now you pay the price.” He cackled a twisted laugh and his eyes landed on me. “Get it? The Price. Like Roxy Price? Good thing you’re not married yet, sweetheart, or that line wouldn’t have worked so well.”

  I looked at him like he was deranged. Because he was.

  He was absolutely fucking psycho, and he had no qualms about killing me. That twisted laugh even prompted a smile on his lips. He was enjoying this.

  He was finally getting his revenge.

  “You’re a fucking idiot if you think you’ll get away with this. I’ve got security everywhere. You can’t just shoot someone and walk off.” My dad was trying to reason again, but he wasn’t getting through to Randy.

  “I’m done, Gideon. I give up. I know I won’t get out. I’m going to kill the one you love, not the one you fuck. Let’s get this over with.”

  He brought his other hand up to steady the gun just as my dad threw his tumbler at Randy’s head with all of his might.

  Randy was quick, though, despite all signs pointing to the opposite. He ducked out of the way and the glass hit the wall behind him, putting a dent there with the force before shattering to the ground. He cackled again. “That was really fucking dumb. You’ve always had poor aim, though.”

  “Not when it comes to your women,” my dad retorted, incensing Randy.

  His face turned a purplish-red in anger. My dad had pushed him over the edge.

  He’d already been teetering there, anyway. All it took was a few words, a reminder of what my dad had taken from him.

  Randy’s eyes shifted back to me.

  My eyes moved down to the gun, focusing in on his hands.

  And then I watched as his finger pulled the trigger.

  I screamed a blood-curdling scream and closed my eyes, waiting for the impact of the bullet. I wasn’t quick enough to turn away from the bullet speeding toward my torso.

  He was aiming for my heart. If he was a good shot, he’d end my life with one bullet.

  I heard a grunt and then a loud thud.

  I didn’t feel any pain.

  Doors were opening and people were screaming and the silence of the office and the quiet moment between my father and I was long forgotten.

  My eyes flew open, and I focused on the scene before me. The police officer was running toward Randy.

  I didn’t see what happened to him next because my eyes swung down to the floor in front of me.

  All I saw was the pool of blood and the man on the floor clutching his arm.

  My dad.

  Randy had shot my dad.

  thirty-one

  “Nine-one-one, what’s your emergency?”

  “A man has been shot.”

  It was a blur of sound in the room, but for some reason, the voice coming through someone’s speakerphone stuck out to me as I stared down at my dad in horror.

  I collapsed to the floor beside him.

  His eyes were closed, clenched tightly shut, but he was breathing.

  “Dad, what can I do?” I yelled. I lowered my voice. “Dad, stay with me. It’s okay, Daddy. It’s your CC. I’m here, Daddy.” I tried to keep my voice soothing, but it sounded like a shrill mixture of panic and fear.

  I brushed his hair away from his forehead. I laid my hand over his where he was clutching his arm. I couldn’t tell where the bullet had hit him. It was either his chest, his arm, or his shoulder. All I knew was that he’d saved my life. He dove in front of Randy’s bullet to save me.

  And he was bleeding everywhere.

  He was so handsome in his tux.

  My last words to him crashed over me. I’d thanked him for being the best dad a girl could ask for.

  I couldn’t lose him.

  My dream…

  My dream flashed back through my mind.

  I knew Katie and Damien had been in the room with me. I’d wrongly assumed it was for me.

  But they were here to take my dad.

  They couldn’t have him. It wasn’t his time. It couldn’t be.

  “Dad, stay with me,” I said again, my voice desperate as I tried to hold onto him.

  I couldn’t lose him.

  He wasn’t responding. I couldn’t tell if he was awake. I just watched the slow rise and fall of his chest, a reminder he was still breathing. He was still alive.

  A flurry of activity in the doorway pulled my attention away from my dad, and I saw Jadyn rush in with Parker right behind her.

  “Where is that son of a bitch? I’ll fucking kill him myself!” Jadyn screamed.

  I looked at her in
horror.

  Who was she talking about?

  She looked over at me, and I saw the anger in her eyes turn to pure love when her eyes met mine. She saw me holding my dad’s hand, brushing his hair back, and she came and knelt on the other side of him. She looked beautiful in a dignified lavender gown.

  “Gideon, you’re not leaving me, baby. I love you.” She leaned down and pressed a kiss to his forehead, the same forehead I’d just brushed his hair back from.

  I felt Parker kneel beside me. He gently touched my shoulder.

  “An ambulance is on its way,” he murmured next to me. “Are you okay, Jimi?”

  I lost all control of my emotions at the raw and genuine affection in his voice.

  Sobs racked my body as I fell into Parker. His strong arms encircled me as I cried into his chest. I heard Jadyn crying quietly across my dad from me.

  She reached one hand across my dad, and I took her hand in mine.

  We held hands over my dad, a silent prayer and a silent truce that had been a long time coming.

  Stolen journals and material items and money no longer mattered.

  All that mattered was that my dad made it through this.

  George’s voice broke into our private moment. “I need some space.” He held a cloth in his hand, and Parker pulled me up from the floor and into his arms. I watched as George applied pressure to the top left side of my dad’s body. I still didn’t know if he’d been shot by his heart or his shoulder. Either way, I knew that the damage could be fatal.

  I glanced beside Jadyn, where Randy had been standing moments before. He was gone. The knowledge hit me, and I feared that he got away.

  I started trembling.

  “Baby, they got him. Randy’s going to prison for a long time,” Parker whispered quietly into my hair.

  I nodded, but I couldn’t stop shaking.

  “You’re dad is going to be okay. He’s a fighter.”

  I knew he was a fighter, but I wanted to scream that Parker wasn’t a doctor and there was no way he could possibly know if my dad was going to be okay.

  But my dad was still on the floor. I needed to stay positive, to send out positive vibes while he was in the room, because I couldn’t risk my dream coming true.